What is the most important component in your system.

It all starts and stops with power per channel for me. My AudioControl Pantages 230W x 5 amp is the heart of my system and the Sunfire Theater Grand TGP-5 Processor is the brains so I guess the lungs of my system are my Athena AS-F2s L/R mains (a), psb500s L/R mains (b), EMP es1010i sub, B&W V201s L/R front highs, Martin Logan Vignette Center, Jamo 7.4s surround and finally Boston Acoustics a100s surround back. Yeah I know no timber matching happening but I’d employ anyone to sit and tell me they can hear that they don’t match. The sunfire does a great job of calibrating everything.

Definitely my First sound upgraded-to-the-hilt(Deuland caps, Vishay resistors) pre amp. Less is usually more in the signal path as, no doubt, everything adds color and /or a characteristic to the sound and is usually a negative but in this instance this pre amp  definitely contributes an overall improvement to the sound.

That said, everything makes a difference and of course some components and cords and tweaks more that others and only thru trial and error can you know what's doing what to the sound. And finally, what components, ICs , power cords, power conditioners,etc  you match together is of great importance. After 15 years buying and selling components, etc I finally got the sound I wanted. When i decided to put together a dedicated head phone set, it came together in a matter of weeks as I simply "copied" what I had done on the big system. To save yourself a lot of time and money, listen to as many systems as you can, find the one that pleases you the most, and get the same equipment. Of course you might tire it after a year or 2 and follow the upgrade path and find yourself impoverished ,alone and drinking. I suggest the best alcohol you can afford. Or forego a couple of bottles of top shelf scotch for a month  and put a Synergistic Blue fuse in you amp, Transport of DAC or do with out for a couple of months and install a Furutech NCF outlet in the wall. Happy listening and /or drinking!

Hi, 

For me, it has been maintaining the patience to try to hear a component before buying it.

This has led me to Thiel CS5's from Maggie 3.6's, Dialogue Premium preamp from W4S STP, and Hegel HD25 DAC from Oppo 105 from Audiospace CD8.

My upgrades have been appreciable improvements in sound for me, so I have not gotten around to exploring interconnects beyond Cullen Cable.

I think power cords are a minor impact, if any, based on trying several different ones. Luckily, I could audition for free and avoid cost.

My opinion is that speaker cables are close to nonsense unless one possibly has long runs. I use thicker than lamp cord wire and could not be happier. Google speaker wire and Roger Russell to learn how I got to my opinion on this subject.

Thanks for listening!

" Google speaker wire and Roger Russell to learn how I got to my opinion on this subject" I think I'll pass on that, I already have my own opinion.